"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
China says will not alter policy because of one economic indicator | Reuters China will not dramatically alter its economic policy because of any one economic indicator, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Sunday, in remarks that came days after many economists lowered growth forecasts having seen the latest set of weak data. Lou made the comments at a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 countries in Australia, according to a statement from the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank.
Digging In on Election Fight, Hong Kong Students Prepare for Boycott – NYTimes.com Two years later, on Monday, Hong Kong university students will gather at the same site to start a boycott of classes to protest Beijing’s ruling last month imposing tight restrictions on how the city’s leader, the chief executive, will be chosen in the 2017 election. The student strike would be the first of a series of planned protests, including a blockade of the city’s business district led by the Occupy Central With Love and Peace movement, which might presage what the activists call a “new era of civil disobedience.”
Related: 董建华率李嘉诚等香港富豪抵京 习近平将接见_网易新闻中心 Tung Chee-hwa leads a delegation of Hong Kong moguls on a trip to Beijing, group includes Li Ka-shing
Inside Alibaba’s Lavish IPO After-Party — Video! Audio! Photos! Shrimp! | Re/code How do you celebrate the largest tech IPO in history? In Alibaba Group’s case, with a high-brow bash at one of Manhattan’s classiest event spaces, Cipriani 42nd Street. On Friday evening, a couple of hundred attendees came to fete the Chinese e-commerce giant, which raised $21.8 billion in its blockbuster IPO. Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma was clearly the star of the show, descending from the stage after his welcome speech only to be surrounded by a gaggle of suits that gave the scene more of a feel of a Wall Street soiree than a tech gathering
Related: Alibaba’s IPO Party – Business Insider The light rain falling on Hangzhou from five o’clock on through the night didn’t seem to spoil the mood of Alibaba employees one bit. Their excitement seemed to rise just as their company’s stock price did on the other side of the ocean. Of course the reason for that was all the fortunes being made. Sources indicate that Alibaba Group offers stock options to any employee who has been with the company for three years or more. That includes over half of their 20,000 employees. The value of shares held by employees who exercised stock options is estimated to exceed $46 billion. Over a thousand are expected to become millionaires.
Official warns rebound of undesirable work style – Xinhua A senior official has warned that the Communist Party of China should be cautious against rebounding of undesirable work style targeted by the “mass-line” campaign which is coming to an end. The “mass-line” campaign was launched in June last year to boost ties between CPC officials and the public, while cleaning up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. The campaign is now in the most crucial stage and Party members should maintain strict standards, said Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.//Second item on Sunday CCTV Evening News 刘云山主持召开中央党的群众路线教育实践活动领导小组
北京孙河原乡党委书记受贿九千万|北京|小官巨腐_新浪新闻 B
Beijing-London: in the labyrinth | openDemocracy Kerry Brown on his visit to the CCDI // The CDIC [Sinocism: official Chinese media calls it “Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)” in English reports] sits at the front of a process where the CCP is now seeking to restore its standing by means of internalising in the society the sense of its near moral mission. For years, the party has been wedded to deploying formal and informal violence to get its own way when pushed into a corner. The result is a tarnished public image. Today the party is trying to overturn that by promoting the notion of a non-egotistical, public-spirited, self-sacrificing cadre of leaders. In an environment as monetarised as that of China now, this is a hard act to pull off. The slightly puritanical air of China these days seems to run skin-deep when set against the vats of material corruption that lie all around. The simple fact is that the CDIC with its concealment, its organised and tactical disclosure, and its harsh clinical language is really a deliverer of fear.
Collecting Insanity | ChinaFile An unusual museum dedicated largely to what is absent in China’s self-presentation is the subject of Joshua Frank’s short film “Collecting Insanity.” Frank tours the Jianchuan Museum Cluster, of Fan Jianchuan, an ex-official and real estate magnate, in the town of Anren, near Chengdu. The group of exhibits, named after Fan himself, display their owner’s collection of millions of historical artifacts, gathered over a lifetime of obsessive accumulation. Fan’s museum displays objects from various historical events, including the officially memorialized Sino-Japanese War and the far more taboo fallout of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. But Frank, and Fan himself, place special emphasis on galleries devoted to the “Red Era” and, in particular, the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) // Been meeting to visit this museum for years…I wrote my MA thesis on Mao Badges and the Cult of Chairman Mao which is one of the reasons I have such a hard time with most of the current reporting and punditry discussing a “cult of Xi” and a Cultural Revolution redux…
LinkedIn changes policy on banned content in China | Marketplace.org Up until now, LinkedIn was blocking posts from its members in China that were deemed sensitive by China’s government—For example, posts about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, or about Tibetan independence. Censored content was not only blocked inside of China, but removed from LinkedIn’s site worldwide. In an email to Marketplace, LinkedIn Director of Communications Hani Durzy wrote the company has officially changed its policy so that sensitive content will still be censored inside China, but not on its site outside China.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Alibaba’s IPO to end US dominance in technology sector: expert – Xinhua “Alibaba’s annual growth rate of more than 30 percent shows that the gap between the Chinese companies, Alibaba and Tencent, and U.S. companies is getting ever closer,” said Qing Wang, professor from Warwick Business School, one of the most prestigious and highly selective business schools in the world. “The ability to understand customers intimately and continuously innovate should enable them to expand overseas with US dominance in the world technology sector gradually being broken,” said professor Wang. // wonder why they couldn’t find a professor at a PRC business school
In Suburban Seattle, New Nests for China’s Rich – NYTimes.com That’s made Seattle one of the world’s top catch basins for the billions of dollars spilling out of China every year. While foreign money has also been pouring into New York, Los Angeles and London real estate, the impact of the Chinese rich on Seattle is far more concentrated, focused on a few small, upscale suburbs. They’re especially attracted to Medina — home to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos — and the West Bellevue area. “The first question you often hear from Chinese clients is ‘Where does Bill Gates live?’ “ said Moya Skillman, a broker with Windermere Real Estate. Brokers and analysts say 20 to 40 percent of $1 million-plus homes sold on the Eastside — a collective term for eastern suburbs of Seattle — were purchased by Chinese buyers.
温州限购取消后首月房价止跌 曾连跌36个月_网易财经 Wenzhou home prices stop falling for the first time in 36 months // 国家统计局近日发布的“8月份全国70个大中城市房价月度报告”
全国多地交行ATM机自动扣款不吐钱 交行道歉_网易新闻中心 Bank of Communications has big problems in its ATM network Sunday // 央视新闻：【交通银行就系统出现波动致歉】今天下午，
Galaxy Securities Staff Cooperate With China Judicial Authority – Bloomberg The staff are involved “due to personal reasons,” the company said in a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange today. President Gu Weiguo will temporarily assume the duties of Dai, chief officer of the company’s fixed-income business, it said. Today’s announcement from the Beijing-based company came after reports in Chinese media of government probes in the securities industry focused on corporate-bond underwriting and issuance. The company didn’t draw any link with such investigations in its statement.
中国证监会:严肃查办违规买卖金融产品的案件——要闻——
邯郸房企集体违约引崩盘危机 多个项目烂尾_网易财经 Handan, Hebei the latest real estate disaster zone? // 与多楼盘停售相对的，是邯郸市不断涌出的烂尾楼。
European Chamber in China Position Paper 2014-2015 The European Business in China Position Paper (Position Paper) is the European Chamber’s primary annual publication. This 14th annual edition of the Position Paper offers Chinese policy-makers over 800 recommendations that draw directly from the knowledge and expertise of the European Chamber’s 1,800 member companies. The recommendations were formulated over a six-month consultative process by 37 separate working groups, covering 28 vertical industry sectors and nine horizontal cross-industry sectors.
POLITICS AND LAW
88 nailed in China’s int’l manhunt for fugitive economic crime suspects – Xinhua Chinese police have seized 88 suspects in an international manhunt since July which targets corrupt officials and suspects in economic crimes that have fled the county, the Ministry of Public Security said Saturday. Eleven of the suspects have been at large for more than 10 years, the ministry said. They include a suspect surnamed Wang who had been on the run for 14 years in Canada, after taking advantage of his previous job to embezzle more than 60 million yuan (nearly 10 million U.S. dollars). // 公安部启境外追逃行动 被捕行长称你们总算来了
河南省人大常委会党组书记、副主任秦玉海接受组织调查——
China’s war on terror becomes all-out attack on Islam in Xinjiang – The Washington Post China’s campaign against separatism and terrorism in its mainly Muslim west has now become an all-out war on conservative Islam, residents here say. Throughout Ramadan,police intensified a campaign of house-to-house searches, looking for books or clothing that betray “conservative” religious belief among the region’s ethnic Uighurs: women wearing veils were widely detained, and many young men arrested on the slightest pretext, residents say. Students and civil servants were forced to eat instead of fasting, and work or attend classes instead of attending Friday prayers.
两高一部下发办理暴力恐怖和宗教极端刑事案件意见-中新网
中央政法委：全体干部决不允许传播政治谣言|政治谣言_新浪新闻
落马官员监狱生活：原茂名书记每天加工4000灯泡_新闻_
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
US Official: Chinese Want NSA Cyber Schools. Really. – Nextgov.com Entrepreneurs in China have voiced support for improving the notoriously spotty relations between the U.S. and China in cyberspace by patterning Chinese courses on NSA-approved curricula, said Ernest McDuffie, head of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education.
Xi Jinping gives ZTE smartphones as gifts on state visits｜WantChinaTimes China-
India, China Quietly Struggle in Indian Ocean-AP Left largely unspoken, though, are the deep worries in India over Chinese maneuvering in the Indian Ocean, where New Delhi’s years of dominance is being chipped away by billions of dollars in aid from Beijing and gargantuan Chinese construction projects. And while China’s recent push for dominance in the South China and East China seas get more attention, the quiet contest for influence in the Indian Ocean is being watched carefully from Tokyo to Washington, D.C. More than anything else, the worries are over energy.
PLA chiefs of staff discuss improving efficiency – Xinhua Chiefs of staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) met here Sunday to improve the efficiency of military command under new circumstances. Fang Fenghui, chief of the PLA general staff, attended the meeting, said a statement issued thereafter. The meeting focused on streamlining the operational headquarters of all PLA forces with information technology and revised several important protocols, the statement said.
Hammered by the West, Putin Turns East–Foreign Policy On Wednesday, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller told Putin that the gas giant is ready to sign a 30-year deal to supply China with 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the so-called western route, which would snake from western Siberia to sparsely populated areas in western China and then overland to the Chinese coast. The contract could be signed in November. Miller added that, since talks with Beijing accelerated after the completion of the eastern Siberian gas deal in May, the two sides are considering increasing the western export route to as much as 100 billion cubic meters of gas per year
Beijing urges greater cyberspace cooperation|Society|
环球新闻_中国成功研制太空机械臂 可全方位进行目标捕获 China reportedly has developed a robotic space arm
组图：安徽新华学院校领导乘奥迪敞篷车阅兵_新闻_腾讯网 co
TECH AND MEDIA
Huawei: The great disrupter’s new targets | The Economist Huawei is a proven innovator entering a bloated industry, ripe for change. Its bosses speak clearly and compellingly about what innovation is for: not to win Nobel prizes, or plaudits in the media for the “coolness” of its products, but to create value for customers. To this end, Huawei stations armies of engineers at 28 “joint innovation centres” at customers’ sites around the world. “My guys don’t just ask the customer what he wants: they go to the field site together, do the installation together, and figure out together how to increase efficiencies,” boasts Mr Ding.
Microsoft delays launch of its Xbox One console in China | Reuters Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has delayed the launch of its Xbox One game console in China, which had been set for release on Tuesday, but the world’s biggest software company said it would be released by the end of the year. Microsoft did not give a reason for the delay in a statement on Sunday.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Luxury brands in a quandary as China’s wealthy young develop resistance to bling | Fashion | The Observer The industry is taking corrective measures to rekindle the love of Chinese consumers. Last week, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced that next May’s fundraising ball at its new Anna Wintour Costume Centre will celebrate the influence of China on fashion, film and art. The chosen theme of the party, sometimes called the Oscars of fashion, offers a clear signal to designers to direct their research toward Chinese history and design. With the Chinese actress Gong Li and Wendi Deng, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch, selected as co-hosts, and Wong Kar-Wai, director of the epic In The Mood For Love as artistic director, fashion could be about to have a Chinese moment. Luxury-brand managers will no doubt be hoping Chinese consumers will reciprocate the love. // selecting Wendi Deng as a co-host a sign they still don’t understand the market
Imperial Qianlong-Era Chinese Vase Sells for $25 Million – Bloomberg The price for the multi-tiered, baluster-shaped vase was about 165 times its low estimate of $150,000. It set the record for a Qing dynasty vase in the U.S. and was one of the top Chinese artworks sold at auction globally. The winner was an anonymous Chinese collector in the room, according to the auction house. // will they pay?
“埋地雷”：古董行里的“无间道”_艺术观_澎湃新闻-The Paper Thepaper on the business of fake Chinese antiques // 所谓“埋地雷”，说出来似乎很简单。把地雷通过各种渠道，
Clinton: Ma, Alibaba Could Revolutionize Chinese Giving – Bloomberg Ma, 50, is scheduled to attend the Clinton Global Initiative, after meeting Sept. 19 with more than 20 high-profile CEOs from companies including General Electric Co. He’s scheduled to speak in a conference session including General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra on Sept. 23, the same day as President Barack Obama and Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Here’s How This Giant Chinese Forest Disappeared | ChinaFile In early August, Greenpeace China’s forest campaigner Wu Hao wrote a piece in the environmental section of the newspaper Southern Weekly about China’s astonishing rate of deforestation. He posted dramatic before and after satellite images of forests cleared in Zhejiang province, in southeastern China. Wu talked to Michael Zhao about deforestation and the power of images in environmental campaigns.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Chinese Tourists Find a Movable Feast Best Left Behind – NYTimes.com Alarm that Chinese tourists are at risk from bandits is so acute that the Chinese government recently considered sending police officers to Paris to help protect them. Paris tourism officials said the proposal was shelved amid concerns over how they would operate.
Around China: Buddhist drama staged on China’s holy mountain – Xinhua A Buddhist drama, Encore Mount Wutai, has staged on Mount Wutai, the well-known Buddhist sanctuary in north China’s Shanxi Province. The drama, produced at a cost of 630 million yuan, or around 90 million U.S. dollars, made its debut in a theater specially designed for the show on Friday night.
Chinese needs 98,000 new pilots in next 20 years – Xinhua China will need 98,000 more pilots and 101,000 maintenance technicians in the next 20 years, according to latest estimates of Boeing. For the whole Asia Pacific region, the demand for pilots and technicians over the same period is forecast to be 216,000 and 224,000, respectively, according the 2014 Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook.
河南媒体：兰州牛肉拉面源自河南-搜狐新闻 Henan media says Lanzhou beef pulled noodles originated in Henan…seems plausible given Henan’s history with noodles
BEIJING
北京规定举报涉毒奖金上不封顶 线索分为三级_网易新闻中心 Beijing issues new guidelines for rewards for reporting on drug activity…how is the African drug trade in Sanlitun going these days? // 本报讯 昨天，北京市公安局有关负责人表示，北京警方制定出台的《